This easy gazpacho recipe uses canned tomatoes and takes just 5 minutes to make. This delicious chilled soup is adaptable and impressive. My neat trick to tame the garlic and onion means you can enjoy all the flavour without overpowering anyone near who gets close!
Table of Contents
Easy Gazpacho
Gazpacho shouts of summer and this easy light version is perfect for the warmer days; cool, refreshing and delicious. I’ve got a neat trick that tames the raw garlic and onion so you still get the flavour, but won’t overpower the people around you!
This easy gazpacho recipe doesn’t need a fancy power blender or food processor. Make it in minutes with a simple basic stick blender.
Gazpacho is best made with flavorful tomatoes at the peak of ripeness. Bland under-ripe fruit simply won’t cut it, so I’m using good tinned tomatoes instead. As always when using canned tomatoes, I don’t recommend buying a budget brand. You don’t need the most expensive, but if you spend a few pence more on a good quality brand, it makes a big difference.
What is Gazpacho?
Gazpacho is an ancient dish from Andalusia, invented long before Europeans discovered tomatoes. Originally made by the Romans from bread, olive oil, olives and water, the tomatoes and peppers were added later. There are now many variations, but I love the classic tomato version.
Chilled Soup – the Perfect Summer Lunchtime Dish
Cold soups make a perfect summer lunchtime dish. Refreshing and flavourful, traditional soups such as gazpacho, borscht and vichyssoise are packed with delicious vegetable flavours and one of my favourite ways to eat extra vegetables during the summer.
Why You Will Love My Gazpacho
- This gazpacho recipe is so EASY!
- It uses canned tomatoes as the main ingredient – a store cupboard staple.
- It takes minutes to make, and you can use a cheap stick blender to mix it. There’s no need for fancy food processors or power jug blenders.
- I’ve tamed the garlic and onion so you can enjoy your gazpacho while still smelling sweet.
Should I Add Bread?
Authentic Spanish gazpacho contains bread, but then it doesn’t use canned tomatoes. I haven’t included it. If you have some stale rustic bread or sourdough that needs using up, then go on and add it to your soup. Tear into bite-sized pieces and soak in the canned tomatoes for half an hour before you blend in the other ingredients. Don’t use cheap white sliced bread, though. It won’t improve the soup at all.
Bread in Soups
Across Mediterranean countries, there is a tradition of adding old bread to soup. This is peasant cookery at its best, wasting nothing and making sumptuous dishes from humble ingredients. In Italy the bread and tomato soup is pappa al pomodoro. It is served warm; the 2 day old bread and tomatoes are heated 3 times so the bread breaks down to thicken and add an almost creamy texture to the soup.
In Spain, the bread and tomato soup is salmorejo, a slimmed down gazpacho made with garlic, vinegar, olive oil, tomatoes and bread, served chilled.
Chunky or Smooth?
It entirely depends on your taste, and how good your blender is! I made this with an everyday standard stick or immersion blender. Most of us don’t have high-end blenders and food processors and you don’t need them.
If you like your soup chunkier, reserve some of the cucumber and red pepper and throw it in at the end, or scoop some out before you whizz in the oil.
How to Make Easy Gazpacho
Collect the ingredients. Choose good tinned tomatoes. It’s best to use pepper and cucumber straight from the fridge, and on an especially hot day, chill the canned tomatoes as well.
Step One – Dice the onion and garlic, and then transfer to a sieve. Set the sieve over your sink and pour a kettle of boiling water over the veg. This removes the strongest smells but keeps most of the flavour. The aromas won’t linger on you – far more sociable!
Step Two – While the onion drains, roughly cut the peppers and cucumber into chunks.
Step Three – Save a tablespoonful each of onion, pepper and cucumber. Place the remaining onions, peppers, cucumber in a bowl. Add the canned tomatoes.
Step Four – Blitz until smooth. (You can use a stick blender, or a jug blender or food processor if you have one.)
Step Five – Add the lemon juice, sherry vinegar, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
Step Six – Blitz again until the oil has emulsified. The soup should be smooth with a creamy texture, and the colour should get a bit lighter. Taste, and adjust seasoning.
Finally, add the vegetables that you saved earlier. Blitz briefly. Serve and enjoy!
Hints, Tips and Variations
- Like nearly every soup this easy gazpacho recipe is better if you make it at least an hour or two in advance. It is good for up to 24 hours in the fridge.
- You don’t need an expensive blender. An everyday basic stick blender will do the trick. Just be sure to submerge the blade fully before you blend the soup.
- Buy better quality canned tomatoes! Not the most expensive, but use a version with a good flavour. You don’t want watery tomatoes.
- Roasted jarred peppers add another layer of flavour.
- We love this easy gazpacho with a handful of chopped herbs for garnish. Fresh coriander (cilantro) is especially good. I know it isn’t authentic, but is is delicious. Add a dash of chilli sauce too, if you like it.
- Garnish this soup any way you like it – try a little manchego, some iberico ham or hard-boiled eggs if you like.
This is fantastic with a slice of frittata or Spanish omelette, and if you wanted to up the garlic add a blob of allioli.
More Easy Soup Recipes
- Good soup often starts with a soffritto recipe. Make a big batch, freeze and use every time you make soup.
- Carrot and lentil soup
- Pumpkin and sweet potato soup
- Swede Soup
- Slow cooker vegetable soup
- Butternut squash soup
- Tomato and lentil soup
- More easy soup recipes
Summer Soup Recipes
Easy Gazpacho from Canned Tomatoes
Ingredients
Basic Ingredients
- 1/2 onion (peeled & chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (peeled & chopped)
- 800 g canned tomatoes (reasonable quality or passata)
- 1/2 cucumber (roughly diced)
- 1 red pepper (seeds & membrane discarded, diced)
- 4 tbs extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lemon (juiced)
- 1 tbs sherry vinegar (or any white vinegar)
Optional Extras / Substitutions
- Whizz these into the soup or use for garnish
- salad onions
- 1 tbs dry sherry (in place of the vinegar)
- 2 tbs chopped herbs - basil, parsley, or coriander / cilantro
- dash chilli sauce
- 1 tsp sugar (to sweeten if needed)
- 2 slices rustic bread or sourdough (torn into pieces )
- 1 hard boiled egg (chopped)
- 1 slice Iberico ham (chopped into pieces)
- Manchego or other hard cheese (shavings)
Instructions
- Optional – blanch the onions and garlic to keep the flavour, but remove much of the fierceness. Put the chopped onion and garlic in a sieve and pour a kettle of boiling water over them.
- Prepare the red pepper and cucumber, by dicing roughly. Reserve a spoonful of each for the garnish and to add extra texture if desired.
- Place the remaining canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper and cucumber in a bowl and whizz with an immersion or stick blender (or use a jug blender or food processor).
- Add the lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil and generously season with pepper & salt. Whizz again until all the oil is emulsified. Check the seasoning and add more if needed.
- Quickly whizz in the reserved ingredients for a chunkier soup.
- Chill for several hours before garnishing and serving. Eat within 24 hours.
Notes
- This recipe is 7 Weight Watchers Smart Points per portion
Gloria
Well it it EVER gets warm here (I think we are going to bypass summer)….this would be perfect. What a great dish for a bbq party. Easy and delicious.
Taylor Kiser
So excited! I have everything I need to make this for lunch today!
Cate
Wow this looks amazing!! Love the pictures too, thanks for the recipe!
Veena Azmanov
The best homemade and flavorful option for Dinner.
Helen
thank you
mohan kumar
This look so fresh and delicious.Thank you so much for the recipe!
Iveta
Loved it! Thanks for the recipe, I’ve added a splash of soy sauce (I KNOW , really authentic ?), pesto and topped with goat’s cheese. I easily see this becoming my fav lunch for the summer!
Helen
I add soy sauce to everything!